EPICEIUM GLUTINOSUM. 441 



EPICRIUM, irugl. 

 A small round oroove in front and below the eye, near the labial margin. 



Two species are known : — 



A yellow band along each side of the body E. glutinosum. 



Uniform black E. monochrmiin. 



EfICRIUM GLUTINOSUil. 



Serpens Ccecilia ecylonica, Seha, ii. p. 2f5. tab. 25. fig. 2. 

 Coeeilia glutinosa, L. Mus. Ad. Fred. p. 19. tab. 4. fig. 1. 



hypocyanea, Hasselt, Isis, 1827, p. 565. 



Epierium hasseltii [Fit-.], Wagl. Ms, 1828, p. 743. 

 gUitinosum, Du7n. (S,- Bibr. \i\i. p, 286. 



Head depressed, of moderate width ; body siibcylindrical, rather depressed ; tail very short, 

 although distinct, and generally pointed. The width of the head between the eyes equals 

 the distance of the eye from the end of the snout. The skin above the eye is so transparent 

 that the pupil and iris may be easily distinguished. The small groove on the lip encloses a 

 short, slender, exsertile tentacle; when it is retracted, the groove has the appearance of 

 being closed by a valve with an aperture in the middle. The cleft of the mouth is not much 

 dilatable in a vertical direction, but it extends to behind the eye. The upper jaw overreaches 

 the lower. Teeth numerous, small, subequal in size ; they form a single uninterrupted series 

 round the upper jaw, whilst the series on the palate is interrupted in the middle, each lateral 

 half extending nearly as far backwards as the maxillary series. The mandible is armed with 

 two series of teeth, an outer and an inner one. The tongue is longitudinally plaited, and 

 nearly entirely grown to the bottom of the mouth, only a narrow margin remaining free. 



The head and body are covered with a leathery skin, which is smooth and undivided on 

 the head, but forms from 282 to 320 transverse folds from the neck to the end of the tail. 

 These folds extend round the body only in its posterior part, whilst they are interrupted on 

 the belly in its anterior and middle parts. The upper and lower parts are black ; a yellowish 

 band runs along each side of the body from the head to the tail. 



This species is found in Ceylon, in Southern India, Khasya, Siam, Tenasserim, and Ja\ a ; 

 it attains to a length of 15 inches, the greatest circumference of its body being 1^ inch. 



I add a few observations on the anatomy of this species, especially on those points which 

 have not been noticed before. All the intestines are elongate, as in snakes ; the intestinal 

 tract is almost straight, very simple in the female, whilst in the male the lower portion enters 

 into intimate connexion with the sexual apparatus. The liver is large, long, divided into 

 numerous transverse lobes, which are arranged like pieces of money in a roll. The gall- 

 bladder is imbedded in the substance of the liver, not far from its tapering posterior extre- 

 mity ; the ductus eholedochus is surrounded by a glandular body, which extends round the 

 hinder part of the duodenum. The kidneys (r, r) are very narrow, tape-like, commencing 

 just below the level of the heart, and extending downwards to the commencement of the 

 cloaca {d); the ureters (w) coalesce with the lowest part of the oviduct {od in fig. 1), the 



3l 



